2005 election filing, day 5

Last office filing. I will add information after new filings about the matchups, and perspective on it, if possible.

King County
*County Executive: No new filings. David Irons is alone in the GOP primary, and Ron Sims has two token challengers in the Democratic primary. I'm assuming that Gentry Lange will not be required to file or stand in the primary being that the Green Party does not have major party status yet.
*County Council District 1: Republican Steven Pyeatt has filed, but will run unopposed in the September primary. This could help Democrat Bob Ferguson now that district Republicans (the few there are) will not have any major primary races and could get crossover support from some Republicans who choose a Democrat ballot. Ferguson will oppose fellow incumbent Carolyn Edmonds in the Democratic primary, and has received the endorsement of the King County Democratic Party.
*County Council District 2: Incumbent Democrat Larry Gossett faces Republican Brian Thomas. Democratic cakewalk.
*County Council District 3: Incumbent Republican Kathy Lambert is running unopposed in both the primary and general election.
*County Council District 4: Incumbent Democrat Larry Phillips is, sigh, running unopposed in both the primary and general election.
*County Council District 5: Incumbent Democrat Julia Patterson faces a challenge from Republican Orin Wells, who had previously considered jumping into the ninth district race. Patterson is in probably the most marginal Democrat-held seat, but should be favoured over the lesser-known Wells.
*County Council District 6: Incumbent Republican Jane Hague is running unopposed in both the primary and general election.
*County Council District 7: Incumbent Republican Pete von Reichbauer will face Democrat Geni Hawkins in a likely GOP hold. The moderate von Reichbauer should easily top the left-wing Hawkins.
*County Council District 8: Incumbent Democrat Dow Constantine is running unopposed in both the primary and general election.
*County Council District 9: Democrat Shirley Gaunt-Smith has filed and will run unopposed. The real contest will be between co-incumbents Reagan Dunn and Steve Hammond. Hammond barely held onto the seat in a special election following the death of Kent Pullen, but did earn the endorsement of the King County Republican Party over the son of former state GOP Chair Jennifer Dunn.

*Port of Seattle: Wen Wu Lee has entered the race for the first seat on the Commission, facing incumbent Lawrence Molloy and challenger John Creighton. In the open third seat, Christopher Cain has newly filed, and will face a quartet of previously-mentioned challengers. For the fourth seat, incumbent Pat Davis faces four challengers as well, including newly-filed Kathleen Quong-Vermeire.
*Federal Way City Council: Three late challengers have entered the fourth seat race against Jeanne Burbidge. Bill Foulkes, Gayla Hardison, and Mark Walsh have all filed on this final day.
*Kirkland City Council: Mike Nykreim has filed for the first seat, and will face Joan McBride. For the second seat, Arthur Best will be running against Bob Sternoff, and John Spangenberg will run against Jim Lauinger for the fifth seat.
*Kent City Council: Jim Orr and Elizabeth Watson have joined the sixth seat race against Russell Hanscom.
*Shoreline City Council: Norine Federow has filed for the first seat against John Chang and Keith McGlashan.

*Seattle Mayor: A handful of late filings today, but still no major challengers. Incumbent Nickels will now face Luke Williams, Omari Tahri-Garrett, Richard Lee, and Jeanne Dixon, in addition to the previous three challengers. I'll be interested to see if the Jeanne Dixon who filed here is the same person who was a frequent Democratic candidate for secretary of state in the 1980s and 1990s. If so, I call for the re-emergence of previous frequent Democratic secretary of state candidate John McKee.
*Seattle City Council District 2: Port Commissioner Paige Miller will face incumbent Richard Conlin and fellow challenger Darlene Madenwald. A Miller-Conlin general election matchup should be marquee, though Madenwald could surprise and make a decent showing in the primary. However, I do not see a situation where the general election is anything but Paige Miller and Richard Conlin.
*Seattle City Council District 4: No new filings. The general election will probably be Casey Corr and Jan Drago, in all likelihood. The thought of a Freedom Socialist or even a Green in a general election (even if nonpartisan) is unlikely.
*Seattle City Council District 6: No new filings. Nick Licata is a strong bet to defeat Paul Bascomb for reelection.
*Seattle City Council District 8: In what should prove to be the best primary matchup, incumbent Richard McIver faces Democrat county Councilman Dwight Pelz and Robert Rosencrantz. McIver will likely face Pelz in the general, but hopefully Rosencrantz will give both liberals a solid run.

Pierce County
*Tacoma Port Commission: Challengers David Hyres and Deborah Johnston have filed to face incumbents Dick Marzano and Ted Bottiger.
*Lakewood City Council: Susan Berven has entered the race for the first seat against a trio of previously-mentioned candidates. Jason Whalen has entered the second seat against Mike Brandstetter and Pad Finnigan. Finally, Anthony Belford will face Doug Richardson and Paul Wagemann for the fifth seat.

*Tacoma Mayor: Well, Bill Baarsma has a challenger. Unfortunately, it's state laughing-stock Will Baker, who gained statewide notoriety after the state GOP nominated him at the last hour for state auditor without looking into his background of being repeatedly arrested for disrupting Tacoma city council meetings and serving jail time. Baarsma may not be the most moderate Democrat to run a major city in this state, but he's much better than a loony like Baker who has zero qualifications to become mayor of the state's third-largest city aside from his age.
*Tacoma City Council District 2: Denny Faker and Rick Cvitanich have joined the race against Carolyn Davidson and apparent front-runner Jake Fey.
*Tacoma City Council District 5: Incumbent Connie Ladenburg will face Richard Bashaw.

Snohomish County
*County Council District 1: A third Democrat, Tom Foster, has joined the race against GOP incumbent John Koster. Koster will likely be reelected, though sits in a seat that could be won by a strong enough Democrat.
*County Council District 4: Republican Eva Davies will face incumbent Democrat Dave Gossett in this safe Democratic seat.
*County Council District 5: Independent candidate Greg Stephens will join the race, but will probably not stand until the general, I assume. It would be nice to see Steve Hobbs win the Democratic primary, but i'm quite sure that Dave Somers would win a partisan Democratic primary, being the liberal candidate of the duo. The winner will face incumbent Republican Jeff Sax.
*Edmonds City Council: Lora Petso (first seat) and Alvin Rutledge (second seat) have filed.

Spokane County
*Spokane City Council District 2: In a welcome surprise, nutty ex-Councilman Steve Eugster did not file after all. However, another ex-applicant for the position Verner was chosen for has filed against her. Insurance agent Dallas Hawkins will make another go for the city council, along with Jeff Bierman, who advanced further than Hawkins in the appointment process.
*Spokane Valley City Council District 3: Former Mayor Mike DeVleming will face Howard Herman.
*Spokane Valley City Council District 6: Four new challengers will run for the open seat being vacated by Mike Flanigan. Two of them, Edward Mertens and John "liberal Democrat who can't take a hint he can't win in right-wing suburbs" Kallas, ran failed campaigns in the new city's first council elections in 2001. New faces are Dale Strom and Ronald Lippincott.

Clark County
*Vancouver Mayor: David Kallstrom has filed for the now three-way race.
*Vancouver City Council: Bob Gaylor will challenge incumbent Jeanne Harris for the third position.

Finally, an update on the open legislative seat in southwest WA: appointed incumbent Dean Takko will run unopposed in the Democratic primary, as will GOP challenger Dawn Courtney and Libertarian candidate Judi Roberts Fiest in their respective primaries. Takko ought to hold this seat, barring a major upset on the coattails of Gregoire and legislative Democrat unpopularity.